How to know if there is enough room for you in the anchorage?

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by Chotu

And things can turn out nice and civil as well.

We once had Icon of Hamble anchor over our anchor in Newport.

As we were leaving in the morning, the crew saw us slowly coming up astern of them as we pulled in rode.

They hopped up, fired up the engines and moved forward so we could retrieve our anchor, then drifted back where they were once we were done.

Cooperation goes a long way in the anchorage

In two days in Lake Worth I got two opposing ends of the spectrum. First guy was in rather shabby boat who said he'd have to push me out of the way if I wouldn't move.

After telling him that's a good way to get a piece of hot lead taking a walk through his appendix a 150' beauty dropped anchor a little close. As the tide changed it was clear we would be even closer. He had crew motor across with a bottle of wine and $300 in a hallmark thank you card to ask if it would be ok for us to move 100 yards as he was a little constrained.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by SV Coronado

I used to do this, then I bought a cheap range finder. The nice thing with the range finder is that you can measure the distance in a hurry without firing up the radar. It also works well for determining the distance to an object like a rock that it's sticking out of the water far enough to show up on radar.

Like a golfers range finder?

[Anders]

Originally Posted by flightlead404

In two days in Lake Worth I got two opposing ends of the spectrum. First guy was in rather shabby boat who said he'd have to push me out of the way if I wouldn't move.

After telling him that's a good way to get a piece of hot lead taking a walk through his appendi.

Nice....

[Icarus]

Originally Posted by Duxa

So we've only anchored a few times, and all of them we were either first or the only ones at the anchorage. We are going again soon. And I am trying to google and figure out how to tell if we get there, if there is enough room for us. Is it all about scope? There is more to it though right? If I am out 7 scope, there need to be extra headroom, also I have no idea what everyone else's scope is? And because of that I dont exactly know where their anchor is.

How do we stay safe and dont become jerks unwittingly? How to tell if there is room for you at the anchorage?

I guess this question can also be posed as: "What is the etiquette for sharing an anchorage?"

You might not be very popular riding on a 7:1 scope in a crowded anchorage.
Not sure how 'googling' can be of any use.
I try to avoid 'popular' anchorages and in many cases one can find an anchorage with lots of swinging room ...

[merrydolphin]

Anchoring is definitely a science and an ART. It is something that takes time to learn and judge/get the feel for. The more you do it the better you will get.
The science: you need to factor in depth/scope wind direction, hold ground quality, having a quality ground tackle that you can trust. Wind, weather.

The art: learning to judge your swinging circle. Picturing where your anchor and rode is underwater, and in relation to your neighbors. Learning proper etiquette of anchoring, Eg, who has “rights” if there is such a thing to the area (swinging circle you are taking up. The basic rule is the the first boat there should have the area they are anchored in. The complexity is where everyone is going to be when the wind or current/tidal flow change. Other either unknowing or just rude boaters will drop anchor right where they shouldn’t.
It just takes practice and experience to figure all this out. If it doesn’t work, be polite and ready to re-anchor if you have to. Happy anchoring.

[SV Coronado]

Originally Posted by flightlead404

Like a golfers range finder?

Yes, exactly! This is the one I bought, but there are many others. I also use it a lot when med mooring. It's nice to measure the distance to a rock or tree. My favorite usage is when the wind is blowing 35 knots, and I think I'm dragging toward shore (paranoid). I can measure the distance a verify that I am indeed not moving.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QKQT6RV/

[thomm225]

Experience.

Go and do some overnights at your own private anchorage and learn a little about your boat, your anchor and rode setup, and the tides/currents.

Then build from there.

If you drag, it doesn't matter how much room you give yourself so learning good anchoring technique is the first priority.

Folks can tell you all they want about how they do it and how you should do it, but you need to learn a bit on your own to understand.

[Cynara]

Good eyes and judgment

[MHTinkler]

Depends a lot on wether it is day anchoring or overnight. During the day close anchoring is usually tolerated because there are eyes on the situation constantly. Or at least you can get someone's attention if things go sideways.
At night, all bets are off. This requires some planning. The first night almost always needs an anchor watch. Thereafter things can get more relaxed. Of course tides, if present, play a major role in those decisions. I usually try to place myself far enough away that no interference is possible. After that, an educated guess has to do

[Night_Sailor]

Originally Posted by desodave

Most of our anchorages are fairly deep, even the crowded ones. First I only plan on 3 to 1 scope. Second I look for a spot ideally with other sailboats around, not power boats that could swing differently.
I scope out a spot then ask a nearby boat where their anchor is, ie, behind or in front of them, and how much rode they have out. Current and/or wind conditions may be very different from when they anchored. If anchor in front, I will usually drop mine just behind their stern and back away if that'sthe direction I'm comfortable with. If behind, I'll decide which way I want to set and leave a distance in excess of my swing to drop my anchor.
In a crowded anchorage in settled weather boats anchored at different times may have anchors set in different directions. Imo you need to try to figure that out for the boats near where you want to go.
I've got 250ft chain and that makes a difference too. Boat with lots of rope will wander a lot in lighter breeze, chain not so much. I'll allow more room if I see nearby boats with rope rode showing.
There are some known charter boats in our area. If I see one of them near where I want to anchor, I'll usually give them a wider berth or, if possible, anchor to weather from them.

Ditto all this.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by SV Coronado

I used to do this, then I bought a cheap range finder. The nice thing with the range finder is that you can measure the distance in a hurry without firing up the radar. It also works well for determining the distance to an object like a rock that it's sticking out of the water far enough to show up on radar.

I LOVE our rangefinder (made for golf & hunting). Not expensive.

Nevertheless, radar gives your relative position for all boats at once. And it works at night, whereas the rangefinder doesn't (at least, not ours.

(With the rangefinder, you have to measure for each boat separately... but it is fast.)

Our Furuno radar gives distances in metres. Some other radars only down to 10ths of nm, not that helpful.

[Moosemiester]

My chartplotter has an anchor alarm that paints a nice adjustable circle around the boat that overlays the chart and radar if it’s on. There’s a free phone app “ Anchor Alarm” that’s quite useful too. Both of these approaches display history the next morning that really help in the learning process.

As I suck at judging distance these apps really help!

[Rockinar]

Originally Posted by Duxa

Thanks for all the replies, it sounds like if there is room for me to swing with my scope and for them to swing with theirs it s not against the etiquette to anchor there?

I just want to know about the “unwritten rules” when it comes to anchoring.

We go to Catalina Island a lot of anchorage’s drop off fast from shallows at 20ft to sudden 40ft then 60ft and then 500ft. So not a lot of room for a lot of boats.

Doesn’t help that a lot of good coves have had mooring balls put in, so can’t anchor there and it’s like $60 a day to moor.

Just my opinion Id rather pay for a mooring ball than fight for a questionable spot in a crowded anchorage full of unknowns. It just eliminates the headaches of worrying who youre gonna swing into or who gonna swing into you and "bitch wings" encounters as mentioned. If youre a newb and unsure about anchoring, moring ball is the way to go.

[Jammer]

There aren't any mooring balls in the places I anchor.


If there were, I would be skeptical of their security. I know what my anchor can do and how it is maintained. A mooring ball is a mystery.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by Anders

Nice....

He didn't recognize the quote so was unable to come up with the rejoinder "my appendix is in Budapest"